Kristen Jaarda

Kristen Jaarda is Executive Vice President of Crescendo Interactive. She serves as Vice President and Chair of Research for the American Council on Gift Annuities. Kristen has two decades of experience as a philanthropy advisor, nonprofit and charitable tax attorney. She has advised hundreds of nonprofits, foundations, families and philanthropists and developed gift planning cloud applications with thousands of users, funding millions of dollars in charitable causes.

Kristen has served on numerous boards and committees including Forbes Nonprofit Council, Leadership Institute of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, American Bar Association Charitable Planning and Organizations Group, American Council on Gift Annuities, Association of Fundraising Professionals Business Council, National Capital Gift Planning Council, Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners, Planned Giving Today and UCLA.

She is a sought after speaker and nonprofit trainer. Kristen is the author of over 50 publications, including six philanthropy studies, and her expertise has been featured before the U.S. Congress in national media outlets and trade publications including Forbes, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Nonprofit Times, NonProfit PRO, ThinkAdvisor, Planned Giving Today, Association of Healthcare Philanthropy publications and many others.

Kristen holds a J.D. from UCLA School of Law and a Masters in Tax Law (LL.M.). She completed her Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP®) with the American College of Financial Services and Nonprofit Executive Education with Harvard Kennedy School. She is a recipient of the American Council on Gift Annuities Distinguished Service Award